About
A Spring in my Step
Dear Shawnigan community,
As many of you know, we made the decision to cancel Spring Break and combine terms 2 and 3 in order to protect our campus bubble and the education of the children in our care. It has undoubtedly been a period of sacrifice for all (including for parents who may well not have seen their children from January through to May) but I like to think that history will judge us kindly in terms of the decisions we have made as a boarding school through the course of the pandemic. Each day, I am struck by the resilience and adaptability of the students and the extraordinary commitment of our staff. Never has a home-away-from-home experience been more important and we have done our best to create a supportive environment for the students.
A review of the week gone by serves to highlight what an exciting, stimulating and challenging time our students are having and I have chosen five moments that have made my heart sing:
1. On Monday evening, the Grade 12s, who started at Shawnigan in Grade 8, came to the garden at the Head’s House for the re-imagined Five Year Dinner. There was laughter and stories galore, and Matt Clinton-Baker, Assistant Head – Student Life and a five year man himself, gave a moving and heartfelt speech to the students.
2. On Tuesday evening, I invited interested AP Literature students into the Board Room for a revision session on The Tempest. Teaching intern Ellen Orchard and I had decided to challenge them to unpick a poem called “Setebos” from Birthday Letters by Ted Hughes. It’s a haunting reflection, using the characters and subverting the storyline of The Tempest, on his doomed relationship with the poet Sylvia Plath. I was struck by the curiosity of the students, undaunted by the complexity and depth of the poem. Questions abounded as to classical mythology, intertextuality and much more – and it felt much more like a first year university seminar. I returned home with a spring in my step. Tonight, we are meeting to discuss unseen prose passages and how to structure a thoughtful and intelligent response on paper.
3. On Wednesday lunchtime, we held a virtual Scholars’ Lunch for donors who support our financial aid / scholarship program. Our aim, as part of Project Future, is to increase the access and diversity at Shawnigan. As part of the webinar lunch, we invited two current Grade 12 students, Tenzin L. (Nepal) and Jasmine B. (NWT) to be interviewed by Mrs. Samuel, and alumna Chelsea Gladstone ’15 (Renfrew) from Haida Gwaii spoke to the impact of a Shawnigan scholarship on her life. They all blew us away with their thoughts and gratitude and inspired us to build our scholarship program.
4. On Thursday morning, my EA Cheryl Miranda and I spent the first lesson of the day wandering from classroom to classroom. The sun shone brightly and the students and staff were up for learning across disciplines. Our favourite moment was when we came across a group of Grade 8 students in the salmon hatchery with Biology teacher Laura Robson. They were delighting in sinking their hands in a tank of water and enjoying feeling the thousands of coho fry swimming past. One of the great beauties of a Shawnigan education is learning and following the salmon cycle in our creek which runs into the ocean.
5. A few weeks ago I challenged our students and staff to commit wholeheartedly to Earth Day. They have responded by running an educational and inspiring Earth Week. More than ever, as we have lived through the pandemic, this past year has reminded us of the importance of nature and the beauty of where we live. Earth Day provided us with an opportunity to give back: beyond our campus, our boarding house cohorts and staff – with clear safety protocols in place – were out and about picking up litter (and looking for recyclables) in the local community. The energy of the students was palpable and I came home feeling that we had risen as a community to the challenge – and it felt good.
3. On Wednesday lunchtime, we held a virtual Scholars’ Lunch for donors who support our financial aid / scholarship program. Our aim, as part of Project Future, is to increase the access and diversity at Shawnigan. As part of the webinar lunch, we invited two current Grade 12 students, Tenzin L. (Nepal) and Jasmine B. (NWT) to be interviewed by Mrs. Samuel, and alumna Chelsea Gladstone ’15 (Renfrew) from Haida Gwaii spoke to the impact of a Shawnigan scholarship on her life. They all blew us away with their thoughts and gratitude and inspired us to build our scholarship program.
4. On Thursday morning, my EA Cheryl Miranda and I spent the first lesson of the day wandering from classroom to classroom. The sun shone brightly and the students and staff were up for learning across disciplines. Our favourite moment was when we came across a group of Grade 8 students in the salmon hatchery with Biology teacher Laura Robson. They were delighting in sinking their hands in a tank of water and enjoying feeling the thousands of coho fry swimming past. One of the great beauties of a Shawnigan education is learning and following the salmon cycle in our creek which runs into the ocean.
5. A few weeks ago I challenged our students and staff to commit wholeheartedly to Earth Day. They have responded by running an educational and inspiring Earth Week. More than ever, as we have lived through the pandemic, this past year has reminded us of the importance of nature and the beauty of where we live. Earth Day provided us with an opportunity to give back: beyond our campus, our boarding house cohorts and staff – with clear safety protocols in place – were out and about picking up litter (and looking for recyclables) in the local community. The energy of the students was palpable and I came home feeling that we had risen as a community to the challenge – and it felt good.
As we turn into May, the finishing line of the end of term becomes tantalizingly close. It has been a Herculean effort from all the Shawnigan community so far and we are determined to finish the academic year in a strong way and to give our Grade 12s the finest of send-offs. Project Future is launched and in full flight – and we are emerging from the pandemic stronger than before. In many ways, it has been an accelerator and a portal to the next chapter in Shawnigan’s story.
Your unstinting support and encouragement has sustained us through this period. On behalf of all the students and staff, thank you.
Richard D A Lamont
Headmaster
We acknowledge with respect the Coast Salish Peoples on whose traditional lands and waterways we live, learn and play. We are grateful for the opportunity to share in this beautiful region, and we aspire to healthy and respectful relationships with those who have lived on and cared for these lands for millennia.
Shawnigan Lake School is an independent co-educational boarding school for ages 13 –18 on Canada’s beautiful West Coast. Our diverse, interdisciplinary and innovative programming helps shape the next generation of global leaders.
